So unfortunately I haven't been able to see the new film yet (going
tonight!), but I did recently re-watch the original, so I wanted to gush
about that.
It's such a perfect film.
There's certainly
room for some debate about whether or not the added scenes in the
special edition add or subtract from the film, but personally, I think
the original film is legitimately a perfect movie, and on all levels.
Whether you look at the voice acting, the direction, the animation, the
music, the score, the story-everything is done amazingly.
It's
also my personal favorite Disney movie, and Belle is by far my favorite
Disney Princess-I hope to properly articulate why throughout my review.
Before I get to the characters, though, I do want to talk about the film itself.
First
off, the animation is incredible. I've always understood, to an extent,
that Disney was amazing at animation. That said, I was never able to
appreciate it as much as others, I guess because I just hadn't looked at
it closely enough in relation to "bad" animation. Disney was what I
grew up with, so it was simply the standard and I took it for granted.
That
said, though, rewatching this I could truly appreciate the incredible
animation, as the mix of hand-drawn and computer animation was a perfect
marriage. The colors of the opening shot are breathtakingly vibrant and
beautiful, and the entire film just looks so crisp and clean, perfectly
done.
Which, speaking of the first scene, I love the entire
prologue, and how it's told through stained glass. It makes it feel like
a fairy tale in such a unique way, instead of the classic "opening a
book"-this makes it seem like it's a story passed down from generation
to batb6generation, to the point that the story is told on stained glass
windows, just as churches showcase biblical stories.
And there
are a lot of other clever instances of animation. When we first meet the
beast, for example, I thought it was so well-done and genuinely
terrifying. With first just the shadow, then the horns elongating, and
then the first shot of him is in his most beast-like form, on all fours,
snarling, terrifying. Which also lends well to his character, as he
slowly becomes more and more upright, mirroring his becoming more and
more human.
Another shot I absolutely loved was after Belle's
father asks Gaston for help, and you get the very high, wide-angled shot
of him in the midst of a snowstorm, incredibly evocative of his current
mood.
And again, with the ending, I like how the film is
bookended with the stained glass windows, once again defying the trope
of the book closing, but still evoking the same idea of the fairy tale
presentation, all at the same time solidifying the idea that this is a
story passed down, and eternalized as a story for that culture.
And
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the library-definitely life goals
right there haha. Just makes booknerd me (aka, me) so happy. ^^
To talk about the characters, though, I love all of them.
Lumiere
and Cogsworth fit the film perfectly. Often times jokes can seem out of
place for me in an otherwise-serious film, but not only were they
genuinely funny, they never felt out of place. Furthermore, they're also
fully-realized characters, who have distinct personalities and give the
feeling that they truly do have a history together. And the film just
does clever and fun things with them, such as Lumiere pulling Cogsworth
for the sad part of "Be Our Guest," using him to personify the emotions
of that part of the song.
For the two main characters, both Belle
and Beast are incredibly personal to me. For Belle, she's exactly who I
want to be; Beast is how I've always seen myself.
Before college
(and even still a bit, but it was a lot worse before), I was always
incredibly self-conscious of my looks/body, plus I always felt
ostracized from society because I liked weird (aka nerdy) things. In
that way, I always felt like I was the Beast. But Belle was who I wanted
to be-nerdy, but confident, and not caring about people's appearances,
but who they are on the inside. I still look up to her, and I still try
to be her.
Belle's also completely me in many ways. Her
introduction is perhaps my favorite part of the movie, as I just love
how she's gushing so much about books, and just needs more, finishing
books in a single day (as I also love to do). And, she loves re-reading
books-there really is nothing like going back to an old favorite, and
Belle shows it.
She's also just such a fantastic character in
general, and it's amazing to see such a strong female character when the
standard of the Disney princess was never that high. I've been reading
things with a much heavier feminist lens recently, and honestly I truly
believe this film is incredibly pro-feminist.
There's a lot of
gender issues in films in general-one of the biggest of course being
that women are so incredibly often portrayed in very sexist ways, or are
used just as love interests/etc. There's been some great films recently
that shows things are slowly getting better, but we're still nowhere
near where we should be. And so it's even more refreshing to see a
character like Belle all the way back in 1991.
Even better, she's
a completely fully-rounded character, and just so real. So often strong
female characters are only women who kick ass, or go above and beyond
what "normal" women do. Which, those characters are awesome, yes-they're
amazing!-but it's also nice to see strong female characters of all
types. Because being strong isn't just about physical strength, but
about inner strength as well and even more importantly so.
And
that's Belle. She's not a warrior, or perfect at everything-she's just
her. She's kind, she's smart, and she's powerful because of her inner
character, never betraying what she stands for. She's who she wants to
be.
batb9Even when just describing books, she likes both the
romance (traditionally "feminine") and adventure (traditionally
"masculine"), and by that the film makes an incredibly important point:
it doesn't matter. Girls and guys can both like adventure or romance,
and one shouldn't be just for one gender or the other. Be who you are,
love what you love-like Belle.
Perhaps the biggest thing about
her that I aspire to be is just her genuine niceness, how pure of heart
she is. I get upset or offended pretty easily (like Beast), but Belle
doesn't. She stands up for herself, but never with malice. And she
treats everyone equally.
Even to Gaston, the "bully", she stays
true to her character even though she's clearly repulsed. She uses her
wit to show that she's better than him, always there with a comeback or
line of snarky dialogue to whatever he says, such as when he states how
it isn't right for women to read, and she calls him out for being
primeval. Or how she says at one point that "some people use their
imagination" in response to the lack of pictures.
Which, speaking
of, Gaston is perhaps one of the best Disney villains, because of how
human and real he is-a perfect counterpart to Belle and the Beast. A
Disney movie is often judged as much by its villain as its hero, and
while I love Maleficent and Ursula and other of the fantastic villains,
Gaston is just as great, but for different reasons.
Anyway, back
to Belle, one of my favorite moments is when she tells Lumiere and
Cogsworth how "I figured it out for myself" when Cogsworth asks who told
her about the castle being enchanted. She doesn't let sexism stand,
whether it's from Gaston who thinks any woman is his, or from Cogsworth
thinking a woman couldn't figure something out-she speaks up about it,
but again not with malice, but simple correction.
Belle's a
completely active character, but in her own way. She proves that you can
be strong in any way. She proves a female character can be written well
without being a warrior badass. Because that's the thing-people are
different. Yes, it's amazing to see incredibly powerful, kick-ass women
written well, but it's also cool to see just women in general written
well, because that's how people are-they're different, they're
themselves.
Belle fights for her father, and doesn't give in to
any of the men in the film. She never gives in to Gaston. She trades her
life for her fathers of her own will, but never gives into the Beast,
either, revolting from him in her own way, such as not accepting dinner,
etc. It's why I love their romance so much, because she doesn't just
give in to him or become infatuated with him, but stands strong and then
later starts to slowly see his inner character-in her own time, in her
own way.
I really don't think Belle gets enough credit, because I
truly think she's one of the strongest characters of film period.
Female, male, live-action, animated-she's just always exactly who she
wants to be, and never apologizes for it, nor does she ever betray her
own values. Belle is an incredibly strong character and a feminist, and
it's so refreshing to see.
I'd go so far to say that Beast even
is redeemed to the extent that by the end of the film that he's either a
feminist or at least on his way to becoming one. Which might sound
crazy, but: he realizes that her wishes are just as important as his
own, validating her concerns, and that's why he lets her go back to her
father. He accepts her making her own choice instead of trying to force
her to love him, as he originally wanted. And he gives up his possibly
only chance at becoming human again, because he validates her concerns
as just as important as his own-treating her as an equal. That's how big
of a character arc he has during the film-before he was turned into the
beast, I imagine him to be basically Gaston as a prince; after being
turned into a beast, he's filled with hate and malice, hating anyone and
everyone; but eventually, he learns about the importance of being kind
and of respecting women (and people in general),
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